Re: You Might be a Traditional Scouter!
Rick Seymour (Rick@INQUIRY.NET)
Fri, 29 Jan 1999 20:54:48 -0500
On 1/28/99, at 9:50 PM, Ian N. Ford FRSH wrote:
>>Simply put, Traditional Scouting is based on the actual
>>writings of Baden-Powell.
>Who wrote " Scouting for Boys " in 1907 ,,, life moves on.
*blank look*
Ian,
Congratulations! I have examined your position and here-by certify
you as having life-long immunity to the Bug of Traditional
Scouting.
You do bring up a number of interesting points. I offer the
following attempt to address your objections for the benefit of
those Scouters who know right away that Traditional Scouting is
exactly what they have been looking for:
As for the appeal of "Scouting for Boys" to the youth of the 1999,
I've had mixed reactions from boys who actually do love to read.
Some are indeed put off by the style of such an old book. Others
seem to have exactly the same instinctive reaction as those
recorded nearly a century ago: organizing their friends into
unsanctioned Patrols and hunting the near-by parks for wild
squirrel (they all report that rabbit is better).
My account of one such Scout ("Marijus") appears in the "current"
issue of Scouter Magazine. I think you can still get a free copy
by writing "Big Ed" Henderson: biged@scouter.com Marijus was
deported from the United States, but those who enjoy his primitive
drawing style should know that he will be illustrating my
Traditional Scouting Website when it goes online sometime in the
next six months (after I figure out things like streaming audio).
>>Ian, if you secretly yearn for a Scouting program run not by
>>"Executives," but by outdoors-people, then you might be a
>>Traditional Scouter!
>I am not sure if I want a program run exclusively by <either>!
>I see the outdoors as one way of achieving our Aim, but I
>believe that there are other ways.
When asked why Scouting seemed to be obsessed with camping,
Baden-Powell replied that it was because camping is what Scouts
want to do. He said that if any boys liked to knit, then Scouting
would jolly-well offer them knitting!
As for me, my skin crawls when I meet a Scout Executive who doesn't
camp at least once a month.
>I had a Leader as a Scout who was red-hot at climbing,
>camping and "outdoors skills " .... He could light a fire by
rubbing
>two woggles together in a snowstorm with his hands tied behind
>his back. I still despise this ASM....
It sounds like you had some bad experiences in Scouting.
Initiations are not Traditional Methods. I once saw an interview
with an old man who had been one of the Scouts that camped at Brown
Sea Island with B-P. I was struck by what he said of the Founder's
method: Baden-Powell never made a boy feel "awkward." "He was
always at the back of you, urging you on."
That the most perfect description of The Scouting Way I have ever
heard: To not make a boy feel awkward.
>A traditionalist is someone who values so much from the
>past that it limits his vision of the future.
That reminds me of the three blind men who encounter an elephant.
One of them feels the elephant's trunk and yells, "An elephant is
like a big snake." The second holds the elephant's tail and
reports, "An elephant is like a rope!" The third blind man reaches
around the elephant's leg with both arms and says, "No, an elephant
is like a tree."
A Traditional Scouter values the past because it helps him grasp
the eternal aspect of the ever-present moment.
>In "Scouting for Boys" B-P described how a murderer was
>caught by the nail patterns in his hob-nail boots, and uses
>that to stress the importance of tracking. ( A far cry from
>DNA profiling and other tools of forensic science.)
B-P's "Yarn" is an example of how a Scout is instructed to use his
powers of observation and deduction in order to do his duty. These
are still valuable skills even in the most backward of DNA
Profiling Explorer Posts.
>He talks about how to stop a runaway horse and cart - I
>can't think when I last saw a horse and cart in Central
>London.
Here in the States, that example is used so often in Wood Badge
cliques to disparage the reading of old books that it is known as
"Four Beads Syndrome" :-/
The "dated" quality of this skill proves all the more that the
Spirit of Scouting is universal. It is a perfect example of how
disaster training frees a Scout to use his power of observation in
a fast moving situation. A trained Scout eyed a runaway horse and
cart in much the same way as Scouts from a wrestling team recently
observed a student shooting his classmates in a high school
cafeteria. When the young murderer stopped to reload his gun, the
Scouts jumped on him and wrestled him to the ground. Scouting is
having the pluck to use your training to do your duty.
>Or how about paying for your next campout by collecting
>old saucepans, tin cans and rags ?
*blush*
Well, Ian, you hit that nail right on the head! Twelve hours from
now my Troop will be distributing flyers reading "Super Bowl
Deposit Bottle CLEAN UP! Help the Hard-Working Boy Scouts Earn
Their Way To Camp!" We collect deposit bottles and cans
every-other month. The whole thing takes about five hours and
participating Scouts earn about $50 each for their efforts.
More later.
Yours in the Flannel Shirt Life,
Rick Seymour
Rick@Inquiry.Net
